An official US commission into Washington’s relationship with Beijing on Wednesday attacked China for its economic and defence policies while signalling fears that recent cyberattacks were backed by the Chinese state.

There is no let-up in religious persecution in East Asia, a new study shows, as Vietnam uses excessive force on religious groups, North Korea executes Christians of an underground church, and China forces the return home of citizens involved in religious activism and punishes them.

The visit by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to Beijing a week ago, follows by a scant three weeks the visit by China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to Ankara on 78 October as part of the latter’s European diplomatic tour also including Belgium, Germany, Greece, and Italy in the margin of his participation in an EU-China summit.

A new report from the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), To Strike The Strongest Blow: Questions Remain Over Crackdown On 2009 Unrest In Urumchi, details widespread human rights violations committed by the People’s Republic of China in the wake of unrest in Urumchi on July 5, 2009.